Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

"Because you're new to this. I figured it out back when I was blasting you to hell and back after that big tower fell down on us. When you're under sustained fire, you glue yourself to the spot because you're too focused on protecting yourself to think of moving. You do that and your whole defence comes tumbling down." Buttercup winked "Happens to any inexperienced Powerpuff too!" she shrugged "Well, not me, obviously, but you get the idea."

"If you leave, it'll hunt you too!"

"Oh, probably." Buttercup sighed. She tapped Blood on the shoulder as the barrier she projected lit everything with a deep crimson hue "But not before it takes down its simpler, stationary target first. And when that happens, it can chase me all it likes. At least it'll have killed the real animal first."

Blood said nothing. She couldn't think of anything to say. She simply stared at Buttercup as she dictated the terms of her victory.

"I'm done here. Seriously. It's up to Bubbles now." Buttercup made a strange face when she saw the lashing tendrils that snaked out from the sphere, some digging into the ground and consuming everything they touched "I... think she's still got some work to do."

"S-She's... in there with her?"

"You may be the one who convinced her to get on your stupid little bandwagon and make all this mess, Blood. But Bubbles was the first friend she truly met. And if that means even half as much to Sora as it would to Bubbles, then you've lost. You've already lost. And there's nothing your perfect little Designer-Baby powers can do about that. She's better than you." Buttercup turned her back on the immobilised Blood and gently kicked off the floor and into melancholy flight "We all are."

Yes Blood, you were outsmarted by the Powerpuff who wasn't known for tactical planning, then got rejected and dumped by her. Isn't it sad?

JesusChrist wrote:And Jesus saw himself in the cross thinking

"THIS is what I gave my life to save?"

Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

"I told you, I'm done here. I'd keep fighting, sure, but... I mean, geez. You've... just..." Buttercup shook her head "It was already over, long ago. If you had friends and followers who actually supported you, then I'd fight you. If you were actually onto something... if this all wasn't just some ego trip gone wrong that your powers took you on... then I'd respect you. But it's nothing like that. So I'm done." A flash of green exploded from her heels and Buttercup shot away.

Blood was shaking her head "Buttercup the Powerpuff Girl NEVER leaves a fight! NEVER backs away! What happened to you!? Didn't you want some sort of satisfaction and closure!?" Her voice strained, legs wobbling "That fight you missed out on - the one that ruined your lungs - you wouldn't walk out on that! So why now!?" The tower continued to creak and buckle, its structure likely to give out even before Blood did "This isn't how it ends, Buttercup! This...!" As she spat words that were filled with more and more hatred, Blood noticed something quite extraordinary. Her fists eased and the tightness in her chest ebbed away and for a moment she thought she was mistaken. But then, as the shield she'd formed began to dissipate, she knew that what she felt was no illusion. The lances of light never reached her. The machine, far below, had ceased to fire. Her arms fell by her sides as her pupils shrunk to tiny black dots lined by searing orbs of ruby. She turned, her breath hissing through clenched teeth. Buttercup could not have gotten far. She would not be ignored like this. "This isn't" her hands reached out, fingertips aglow as her eyeballs once again began to blaze inside her skull. "how... it ends!" Her hands formed fists once again as her mind seized the weakened structure that barely stood around her.

The warped and weakened metal tore away from itself as Blood's knees trembled under the weight of what she lifted. There were still seven storeys above her - maybe eight. Like the titans of folklore, she lifted the giant steel boulder up over her shoulders as fragments fell like silver rain. Gritting her teeth, her gaze never left the retreating superchild, her diminishing silhouette basking in the glow of the second golden sun in the distance. More scrap fell before her eyes and she took into her psychic grasp a nasty, serrated-looking piece. No bigger than her hand but the perfect shape to wound. Licking her lips and tasting the fresh sweat dripping from her brow as the towertop hovered above her, her mouth twisted into a sinister grin. The shard spun before her, its jagged edge pointed forward. Without a sound she released it and it shot through the sky, a makeshift arrowhead. It disappeared from sight as it rocketed toward the distant girl but she felt every inch of its flight until it came to a sudden stop, lodging into Buttercup's left leg and digging deep into her calf muscle.

Grids uploaded the next bit on DA guys. Don't worry about Buttercup getting stabbed by Blood, all that did was piss her off.

JesusChrist wrote:And Jesus saw himself in the cross thinking

"THIS is what I gave my life to save?"

Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

Buttercup shrieked, instinctively drawing her leg up toward her torso as she yanked the invading metal from her calf muscle. The gash was deep and her leg gushed fresh red. Her incisors bit into her lip as she sucked in a courageous breath, ignoring the searing pain now shooting up her side. Whirling around, she saw what awaited her and the psychotic esper standing beneath it. She counted seven storeys, perhaps eight. That much steel at that speed would shred her, she knew. She bit harder, unaware that she was about to draw blood from her lip as well. Fury overwhelmed her. That girl would not quit. Buttercup's hand lit up, clutching the bloodstained shard of steel within it. With an enraged shout, she flung it right back.

Blood smirked and without a second thought, she commanded her invisible force and swatted the wayward metal - it was coming in too low anyway - and watched it tumble out of sight. Preparing to fling the whole towertop in reply, she looked back up at her distant nemesis. A flash of green made her smirk disappear and her flushed cheeks fade. Deflecting and commanding solid steel wasn't too tough. Blocking a supersonic streak of green Powerpuff energy?

She was still working on that.

The air fled her lungs as Buttercup's thin shot of light tore right through Blood's stomach and tore out her back from just beneath the left side of her ribcage. Her legs, already wobbly, gave out completely. She soundlessly flopped and crumpled, her head striking the cold floor and leaving her fading vision staring up at the floating towertop. Her fingers twitched, the numbness in her midsection spreading. She didn't realise right away that her power had faded. Then the towertop dropped. It smashed into the remnant of the tower upon which Blood lay, the gutted and weakened structure no match for the sudden impact. Steel crumpled like crepe paper and as it fell, a plume of debris erupted as the last innards of the skyscraper came bursting out from within itself. The chaotic, indescribable sound of demolition thundered as the plumes of grey, both pale and dark, billowed into the sky. Then the storm of noise subsided, the tower no longer standing. The clouds of dirt and debris chose to stay a while longer.

Buttercup's shoes touched asphalt with a faint 'clopclop', shielding her eyes from the choking fog of what may or may not have been powdered metal. She winced and shifted weight off her left leg. She could feel the blood beginning to crust up on her skin. She would not enjoy washing that later. The street was strewn with wreckage and through the haze she could see the twisted hulk of the tower. Nothing stood of her previous battlefield. She'd done the city a favour - that tower wouldn't have been salvageable anyway. How many of Townsville's buildings had she brought down now? She'd lost count. At least she didn't send them tumbling while people were inside them. Well... tried not to, anyway. She was convinced it was over. There was no sign of Blood. She'd walked away from her nonsense and answered Blood's immature persistence one last time. She breathed a sigh of relief, promptly coughing from the crap she'd inhaled. Bad lungs, bad leg, oh joy. Something lingered in the back of her head about that strange and obsessed girl who was buried somewhere under that rubble, but she thought little of it. Right now, she had to find where her sisters were and make sure they were safe too. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar clicking sound, followed by the characteristic pitch-up of a weapon's whine. She glanced over her shoulder as Sorceress again appeared, trundling along the smoky street with its multi-barreled guns aimed squarely at her face. They spun up and began to arm, its target in plain sight. Buttercup rolled her eyes.

Then with a flick of her wrist a green flash engulfed Sorceress and the vehicle exploded in a mighty fireball, leaving it smouldering in a twisted wreck. Shaking her head and with a pestered yet satisfied sneer on her face, Buttercup took flight with parting words.

She'd given up trying to come up with any new, bright ideas. Bubbles sat on the floating slab of metal that had once been the roof of Townsville's highest tower. She brought her legs in, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin on her thighs, staring over the top of her knees at nothing in particular. The dimensional void that had trapped her continued to swirl and rearrange itself as it continued to expand around her, its depth becoming unfathomable. She glanced across to her left, where Sora's motionless body lay face-up and wide-eyed, staring with some kind of silent marvel at the work that she was doing in her non-corporeal form. The talisman around her neck, dangling on its thin golden chain pulled tight by some sort of force, shone a brilliant white.

"Are you having fun?" she murmured, offhandedly.

Even the slightest whisper was more than enough to alert the disembodied zoner; her sing-song voice giving a deranged cackle "Ooooh, you've no ideaaa... take a look at this!"

Bubbles looked up as out of another swirling mass of formless matter came the shape of a suburban single-story home made of bricks and mortar. Its roof was tiled with sandstone red and the glass in the windows glinted like new. Bubbles felt a twinge of unease heaping itself upon the mountain of helpless discomfort she was already experiencing. She dreaded the answer, but... "Did you absorb that too?"

"Sure did!" came the voice, almost bitterly carefree "There was nobody in it, don't worry! I like the roof - it's a nice colour! And so simple and..."

"You don't like it? I like it! How come you don't like it?" Sora's voice badgered. Bubbles glanced to her side. The motionless body remained limp. Half the reason Bubbles' spine tingled with trepidation was the resounding voice of the girl lying beside her. No amount of ignoring would silence it despite no lack of trying. More dis-constituted matter took shape around the floating house and the plot of land that was gradually putting itself together beneath. The thick black dust clumped together upon imitation grass - kept green through a rather complicated process that, earlier, Sora had still happily explained (in full) to her disinterested and upset captive. "I'm maaaakiiiing a HOUSE!" Sora giggled as the tall spirals of matter became giant trees that would keep the place in shade. If it weren't within a skyless, luminous void at least. "For me, for Toby and for Cody!"

Bubbles stared off at nothing. She knew that right now, beneath the slowly-moving, slowly-growing sphere powered entirely by Sora's mis-shapen will, tendrils of that strange cosmic energy were carving up the landscape beneath like a giant metal spoon scooping up ice cream. Everything it took from below was transposed here. Everything that dared to cross the boundary of the void was equally assimilated. Bubbles was spared only because she was still alive. Perhaps, when Sora finally grew bored even of her, even that would not save her. The more she thought about it, the more helpless she felt. She hugged her legs closer and clenched her eyes shut. It was all she could do to stop herself screaming in distress.

... you know, prior to this I had kinda forgotten just how batshit insane Sora has become. It's actually starting to creep me out a bit.

JesusChrist wrote:And Jesus saw himself in the cross thinking

"THIS is what I gave my life to save?"

Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

I normally keep mentions of other shows at a minimum but the Puella Magi Madoka Magica vibes/parallels are becoming very hard to ignore. What were the odds of Quinty-boy's clumsiness making an albino...?

That aside, I WANT to agree with you Kusang but her "sane way to keep her sanity" isn't showing any signs of stopping, let alone growing. Even Blood figured that out, albeit far too late.

Looking back, I have a gripe or two about the show but in a nutshell its a very dark take of the oft-sugary magical girl genre. I highly recommend it. Only twelve episodes but I suggest watching three at a time (partly due to your job and partly because the first two episodes are pretty much decoys). Or the manga, which is virtually the same what with the anime preceding it.

I was referring to Quintaine's mashing of the keyboard and a certain...thing from the above mentioned anime. Anything could have happened to Bethanytwo. God knows he was as mad as he could be as a scientist.

It kinda makes sense if you think about it. Both Puella Magi Madoka Magica and the stories that Griddles makes are similar because both Talisman and the story of Bell and Barasia are really dark takes on the "oft-sugary" Powerpuff Girls. It's not surprising that they bear a resemblance to Madoka Magica. We really should have seen the parallelisms from the concept alone.

If you got sick of the world, and made it better to gain some peace of mind, would you be selfish or selfless?